Spatial Heterodyne Spectrometers incorporate division of the electromagnetic spectrum into many separate wavelength bands, which may be located in the infrared, visible, or ultraviolet regions. Spectra are obtained that is useful in a number of fields. In particular, each wavelength band may carry different or additional information. This high-resolution spectral information, in combination with the spatial information, is suitable for identification of chemical species, and for identification of objects by their chemical makeup. The high-resolution spectra may further be used in hyperspectral imaging applications.
Some chemical targets have telltale spectral feature that require very high-resolution spectroscopy to identify, and with spectral peaks located octaves apart in wavelength. Typically, these spectra are measured with a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR). However, this scanning device takes minutes to gather the data. Slit spectrometer can be used for this purpose but their throughput is low, they can be very large, and their spectral coverage is limited to a single octave.
Spatial Heterodyne Spectrometers (SHS) are typically spectrometers capable of observing spectra of light radiated from or reflected by a target in a narrow band of wavelengths.